Artistic License
by breeeliss
Summary: Desna was just trying to drag Huan to this ridiculous double date so that they could get it over with as quickly as possibly. But of course, the fool's artistic preoccupation managed to get the two of them arrested instead. Crack pairing (Huan x Desna). Modern AU. Submission for the Pro-bending circuit Semi-Finals.


**Title:** Artistic License

 **Words:** 3479

 **Summary:** Desna was just trying to drag Huan to this ridiculous double date so that they could get it over with as quickly as possibly. But of course, the fool's artistic preoccupation managed to get the two of them arrested instead. Crack pairing (Huan x Desna). Modern AU. Submission for the Pro-bending circuit Semi-Finals.

 **a/n:** Pro-bending circuit submission for the semi-finals. This one's a little weird in that me and three other teammates are basically writing the same story with a lot of prompts mashed in for flavor. The pointed difference is that each us of are writing from different POV's. So I was gifted with the Desna POV which should be fun, seeing as how I've got the pairing Huan x Desna to work off of (which...is surprisingly enjoyable).

I'd recommend reading my teammates' stories as well if you liked this story. They're all complimentary and each add a little bit of extra flavor to the story and more plot. Plus, the little plot points that seem random/out of place/not explained in this story will be touched upon in my teammates' stories so definitely check them out.

 **Warnings:** Modern AU.

 **Task** : Characters A, B, C, and D all go to dinner on a double date

 **Prompts:**

(character) Desna

(emotion) fear

(dialogue) "That's a different way to put it."

 **Bonus:** Include the element Earth in the story

 **OOO**

 _Artistic License_

 **OOO**

Asami blinked. "Where the heck have the two of you been?"

Where have they _been_? Oh, the desire to launch into a lengthy account of just how absolutely dimwitted and illogical Desna's boyfriend was at times was far too strong at the moment. The small dosages of frustration, anger, and lots of lingering fear were probably radiating off of him in droves which was probably why Asami didn't push him further for an answer and probably why Huan was sitting down quietly next to him and not bothering to offer any comments or explanations.

Huan was normally quiet regardless — which was it's own blessing when you considered how eccentric Huan was — but this silence was one that had more to do with his not wanting to bring attention to himself as opposed to him truly not wanting or needing to offer his opinion. Desna had long been able to tell the difference, and knew that Huan was probably feeling guilty about what had happened. At least he wasn't attempting to take the blame off of him and rattle off excuses. Desna may stuff a napkin into his mouth just to silence him.

The waiter must have seen that the missing couple had finally arrived to their table, and pulled out a pad to take his order. Huan sighed and plucked up the menu half-heartedly, but Desna quickly leaned over the table and said, "He'll have the special with no sauce, and a cup of coffee. Black, no milk or sugar. I'll have the salmon entree with just a glass of water."

Huan turned to Desna in surprise. "...thanks. How'd you know I'd want the special?"

Desna looked over to Huan and shrugged regally. "I've been here with my father and sister many time before. I'm simply familiar with the menu and picked what I knew you'd like. You didn't seem to be in the spirits to order your food and I'll not have you starving," he replied flatly. It certainly was a matter of logic. Huan wasn't familiar with the menu and Desna was truly just trying to hurry along this ridiculous affair. But Huan seemed to have been warmed by the sentiment and smiled quietly to himself. He settled more comfortably in his chair and turned to greet the two women sitting across from him.

Desna sighed. It wasn't as if he had been complimented in the past for being good at romance. He wasn't romantic. In fact, romance seemed tiring and boring. But Huan for some reason didn't seem to mind these things about Desna. According to Huan, Desna had a way of showing affection in "his own special way." Heaven knows what on Earth that meant, but if it kept Huan happy, he supposed that could only be a good thing.

Asami seemed to have been pleased that the two of them had finally made their way to the restaurant. Korra seemed less enthused, sitting directly across from Desna. Her dog — Naga? Appa? What was its name again? — was sitting next to her wheelchair and Korra was scratching absently at the dog's head. She smiled sadly and half heartedly. "Hey, Desna."

Desna nodded blankly. "Hello, cousin." If he was being honest, Desna wasn't overly fond of Korra. They were very dissimilar and their upbringings were completely at odds. It was difficult to get along with someone like that, family or not. But Korra had recently had an automobile accident a few months ago that left her legs close to useless and have had her wheelchair bound ever since then, and that hadn't been the best for Korra's mood. It wasn't clear when Korra would be able to walk again, if at all, and it put his cousin in a mood that made her want to sit around all day, stare at walls, and not talk to anyone.

Personally, Desna found that a little pathetic — although, Huan said he wasn't allowed to say that out loud because it was rude, or something of that sort. He had heard Korra's girlfriend and Korra's parents have been trying to put her in better spirits with no such luck, so Desna's father decided to put his two sense and get his own son involved. Apparently, Desna's father felt a double date between Desna, Huan, Korra, and Asami would help Korra cheer up and get out of the house.

That logic was, of course, completely imbecilic. But Desna wasn't about to begin to disobey his father, and reluctantly made reservations to a small restaurant in the neighborhood.

Too bad Huan royally botched the afternoon and made them late to their date anyway.

"I assume the two of you are doing well?" Desna asked, more out of politeness than out of any legitimate interest.

"Yeah, I haven't heard much from the two of you lately. It's good to see you both," Huan replied.

Asami paused for a moment, waiting to see if Korra was going to say something in response, but the dark skinned girl stayed silent. Desna watched Asami bite her lip worriedly and nod in the boys' direction. "Everything's great. Thanks for asking! I'm glad that you two finally made it," Asami smiled. "But you still haven't explained why you're a half hour late. I mean the two of you look like you've been through hell and Desna...you, wow, ok, you look really annoyed right now."

Huan looked down at his plate and let out a long, suffering sigh. "I mean, they do deserve an explanation. We made them wait, I guess." He didn't seem any more enthusiastic to share than Desna did, it seemed. Although, Desna was sure that his distaste for telling this story far exceeded Huan, but there was no sense in dwelling on something like that.

Desna closed his eyes, breathed, privately cursed his father for making him get involved in this chore of a day, and opened his eyes once more. "Very well. But please let me preface this by saying that everything that occurred and caused us to be late was entirely Huan's fault."

 **OOO**

" _I'm really starting to think that this is a rather foolish idea, Huan," Desna muttered monotonously._

 _Huan quickly held up a hand and stopped Desna from protesting further. "Shush, Desna. As long as you don't draw attention to us, we'll be fine."_

 _Desna sighed sufferably. Honestly, they were supposed to be on their way to the restaurant for this ridiculous double date. Not stopping at public fountains and scouting for sculpture material. Huan was a wonderful company since they had similar thoughts and opinions on things. However, Huan's opinions and beliefs tended to turn into overzealousness when his artistic muse sprung up, and that's when Desna started to get annoyed. Like right now._

" _I'm still not quite understanding why you're choosing to strip metal off of a park fountain of all things," Desna reasoned tiredly. "I recall you subsisting on scrap metal in the past."_

 _Huan was barely listening. He had run off to the base of a nearby, started digging around in the Earth — oh, for heaven's sake — and began dragging over a large stone to help him reach the top of the fountain. "Yes, but just_ look _at the shape of this piece!" Huan exclaimed in a rare show of enthusiasm that made Desna almost want to agree with this nonsense. "It'll be perfect for my sculpture on the existentialist micro-aggressions placed upon our budding youth in this decrepit capitalist society."_

 _Desna looked on blankly. Ugh. Artists… "...let's pretend for a moment I understood what that meant. Apologies for putting a damper on your creative vision, but this could very well be illegal."_

 _Huan sighed in a manner that made him seem so much like the angsty teenager that Desna was normally used to interacting with. "It's not like I'm ruining the fountain. I'm just taking a small piece off of it. Besides…" Huan trailed off thoughtful, tilting his head to the side and looking at the fountain critically. "don't you think it looks better without it anyway?"_

 _Desna looked at the protruding beam coming out of the top of the fountain and found he didn't really care to see if this was even the case. "I feel it's better if I don't comment."_

 _Huan was already reaching up and yanking on the beam, pulling it from it's perch. "Don't think of it as stealing. Think of it as...removing the excess for the sake of improvement, and re-using that excess for the sake of creation."_

" _...I suppose that's a different way to put it."_

" _I'm glad you agree. Now come up and help me pull this down."_

 _Desna truly didn't want to, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't find something appealing about Huan's rare enthusiasm that emerged whenever his artwork was concerned. While his eccentric approach to his work often filled Desna with worrying amounts of dubiosity, he couldn't deny that Huan was absolutely breathtaking when he was working or explaining the concept for his next work. Oh well. He supposed he could maybe help just a tad…_

 _...but of course that thought was immediately replaced with intense fear when he looked down the street. "...Huan," Desna said hurriedly. He could hear worry creeping into his voice. "You might want to return that."_

 _Huan had just about finished tugging the piece down. "Return it? I only just got it — "_

" _Huan get down from there. Someone just saw you!"_

" _Someone?"_

" _A police officer! Hurry up and get down from there, you fool!" Desna pulled on the back of Huan's shirt, trying to get him off of the fountain and back down to the ground. In the distance, he could see a uniform clad figure — small, and probably a woman, but uniform clad nonetheless — start to look at them suspiciously, and then widen her eyes at the sight of the defaced fountain. She was quickly making her way towards them and Desna finally understood what true panic felt like._

" _Calm down!" Huan exclaimed, a little huffed over the fact that he was being manhandled. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"_

" _We are_ not _getting arrested Huan, I won't allow it!"_

 _Huan suddenly started to look panicked himself. "Uhh, then we might want to run." Huan immediately grabbed Desna's hand and took off into a sprint in the opposite direction, causing the police officer to shout after them and chase them out of the park and down the block._

 _Desna wasn't out of shape or unused to exercising. In fact, neither was Huan. But that didn't mean that Desna_ liked _the sensation of being chased by law enforcement across his neighborhood as if he were a common criminal. No, that definitely was not something high on his list of things he found enjoyable, which was short enough to begin with as it is. But that's what the afternoon had suddenly morphed into — Desna and his boyfriend sprinting around corners and past pedestrians to get away from the police officer that was chasing them._

 _Desna didn't usually try to turn his nose up to authority — his father's word was law, as far as he was concerned, and the same went for people who_ actually _upheld the law. But that was different when said law wanted to lock you up in a cell. That was unacceptable. Huan thought it was silly, but Desna was terrified of the police, or more specifically, of being arrested. The thought of his father — a distinguished council member — finding out that one of his children was arrested for delinquent behavior filled Desna's chest with so much dread, that he felt his legs pump faster, trying to propel himself away from the threat and hopefully to this ridiculous restaurant to put an end to this ridiculous day already._

 _Huan and Desna cut across the courtyard of the post office, both of them familiar with the alley that ran behind the building that would leave them closer to the restaurant and hopefully allow them to lose the police for a bit. Desna was about to lead the charge through the small space before, out of nowhere, two more uniform clad women stepped out of the alley and blocked their progress, causing Huan and Desna to quickly skid to a halt._

 _The hesitation was enough for the original officer to come up behind them and tell them to stay put exactly where they were. Desna sighed and felt his heart fall out of his chest. His father was going to kill him. Desna was ruined. It couldn't possibly get worse than this._

 **OOO**

 _The police officer — a small, but shapely woman with long hair in a ponytail braid and the most irritating voice Desna had ever heard in his life — put down a clipboard of paperwork and glared at the two men. Her name tag — "Ty Lee," he thought it said — actually glimmered in the fluorescent light in a way that made Desna quite nervous and afraid of what would happen next. "Alright boys," she began in that saccharine, bubbly voice. "I dont think I need to tell you that stealing public property is against the law?"_

 _Desna and Huan were currently sitting on the floor of a holding cell in the police station. Huan muttered. "It's not like that fountain was going to be any worse off than it was before."_

 _Ty Lee paused. "...that doesn't change the fact that it's illegal? You're kind of a dummy, aren't you?"_

 _Well, this officer was bubbly and annoying, but certainly perceptive. "Yes, I've noticed that as well," Desna replied sarcastically._

" _Desna, you're not helping," Huan hissed in annoyance._

 _The mixes of fear and frustration finally built up in his chest and caused Desna to express a rare show of raw emotion that made his eyes flare and his voice rise and fall with intonation. "We are in a_ holding cell! _Do you realize what my father will do when he finds out I've been_ arrested?" _Simply that thought made Desna cripple in dread. "Oh God, when he finds out I've been arrested…"_

 _Huan actually had the decency to sound a little. Densa knew he was aware of Desna's distaste for getting in trouble. "Look, calm down," he tried to soothe. "We're going to get out of this."_

 _Desna wasn't as optimistic. "Get out of this? The damage is done, you fool. I might as well start drafting my will in blood on the walls of this cell."_

 _Ty Lee looked disgusted. "Um, can you_ not _do that?"_

 _Loathed as he was to pull this card, Desna was unfortunately feeling rather desperate. "Listen, officer. My father is a councilman of this city and is held in high regard by the citizens. Is there any change an exception can be made?"_

 _Ty Lee laughed and leaned back in her metal chair. "Oh please, buddy, I know a_ ton _of famous people. That's not gonna work as an excuse. I mean, come_ on _. If you're gonna bribe me out of that cell, you're gonna have to do better than that."_

 _Desna felt like killing someone. Namely his boyfriend. Or at least bashing his face in a few times to justify the absolute mess he had gotten the two of them into. "Perfect," Desna replied hatefully. "This is absolutely lovely. Not only is my father going to execute me — literally execute me — when he finds out about this, he is also going to blame me for ruining my cousin's double date. I cannot believe this is happening to me…"_

 _The mention of the date caused Huan to stiffen up and snarl his lip in mild disgust. "Ugh, did either of us really want to go to that anyway?"_

 _Desna was about to reach over and seriously hurt his boyfriend since that wasn't the point and they were still a stupid jail cell even if neither of them actually wanted to suffer through this date. But Ty Lee's ears seemed to perk up at the mention of 'double date' and she sat up straight in her chair. "Wait...you guys have dates waiting for you?"_

 _Huan paused, raising a brow at the sudden show of enthusiasm. Desna smirked privately. At least they both seemed to have the same opinion about this officer. "Well, it's a...double date. This is my boyfriend, and we were supposed to meet his cousin and his girlfriend around ten minutes ago — "_

" _OMG!" Ty Lee squealed — yes, she_ squealed _like a child and spoke like she was a damned teenager and started clapping her hands in excitement. "Why didn't you_ say _so? Oh, that's so cute, how long have you two been dating?"_

 _Desna was too bewildered to bother asking questions, and personally felt like he wasn't in the position to be recalcitrant. "Uh...approximately four months?"_

 _Ty Lee covered her cheeks like she was fawning over a puppy, a baby, or a new palette of makeup. "Wow, that's so adorable," she cooed. "You two are_ so _suited to each other. Oh gosh, okay, let's get you out of there," Ty Lee decided, reaching for the keys that hung on one of her belt loops._

" _Wait, I thought we were being arrested," Huan asked in confusion._

" _Look, I trust you not to act like a dummy again," Ty Lee rolled her eyes as she unlocked the cell. "If you really want some metal for your silly art piece, just go to the scrap heap like everyone else. Two girls shouldn't have to suffer through an incomplete double date because you were being totally weird."_

 _Well, as much as Desna didn't like this officer, she had a wonderful point once more. "Truer words have never been spoken."_

 _The holding cell door flew open and Ty Lee smiled proudly. "Alright, you two! I'm leaving you with a warning. Now hurry up and get to your date!_

 **OOO**

Asami was doubled over in laughter, trying not to choke on her drink while she listened to the rest of the story. "I can't believe all of that happened to you! That is amazing…"

Desna rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, laugh all you want. It was possibly one of the worst days of my life."

Huan didn't even look offended. Instead, he crossed his arms and looked down at his table. "I'm tempted to agree with you."

Desna saw Asami still grinning from the tale, and looked over at Korra to see if she was finding any humor in the story. But Korra seemed to be sitting rigidly in her wheelchair and her eyes seemed out of focus, as if her mind were wandering. Asami immediately transitioned into worry. "Korra, are you alright?"

But Desna's cousin didn't bother responding. Instead, she unlocked her wheelchair, and began to wheel herself away from the table, her dog following dutifully behind her. Asami immediately got up from her seat, placed her napkin on the table, and looked apologetically at the two men. "Sorry, just give us a few minutes."

Desna nodded and watched as Asami ran after her girlfriend who suddenly seemed dead set on getting away from the current situation and trying to be alone.

Huan looked on in thought, resting his chin in his hand. "She really hasn't been taking this accident well, has she?"

Desna sighed and thanked the waiter that had just brought them their food and drinks. "I wouldn't call that taking it well, either. It's why I wasn't particularly keen on attending this date. I doubt very much that what that girl needs is our interference."

Huan shrugged. "I agree with you. Still, it was nice of you to do this for her anyway. I know you like to obey your father and this was as per his orders, but it's still a nice thing to do for her."

Desna wasn't sure if he was really doing this for Korra. Personally, he seemed to see this date as being pretty useless when it came to cheering up the girl and getting her to suddenly come out of what he thought was a lot of emotional turmoil the girl was carrying. Still, he supposed that this date wasn't _all_ that terrible. "Thank you for coming with me today," Desna admitted quietly, suddenly feeling — guilty? Yes guilt. That was a new one — for having spent much of the day being angry with Huan. Despite their terrifying debacle today, Desna couldn't ignore that this would have been infinitely worse if he had to sit in this restaurant alone without any pleasant company.

Huan gave him a small smile and nodded. "It wasn't any trouble. I mean, I'm really not a fan of these sorts of things. But I guess it's manageable if you're here to suffer through it with me."


End file.
